
s/y 



■Tour country and its cause. 



A DISCOURSE 



PREACHED OCTOBER 2d, 1864, 



fN THE 



SOUTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 



OF 



BKOOKLYlSr, 



Mev. SAMUEL T. SBEAB, Pastor, 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



BROOKLYN : 
THR union" steam PK ESSES. 10 FRONT STREET. \ 

1864. \ 

if 

U 



COUNTRY 



ITS CAUSE. 



A DISCOURSE 



PREACHED OCTOBER 2d, 1864, 



IN THE 



SOUTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 



OF 



BROOKLYN, 



BY 



Rev. SA3IUEL T. Sl^J^AM, JPdsict^. ' 



PUBLISHED BY BEQUEST. 



BROOKLYN : 
"THE union" steam PRESSES, 10 FRONT STREET, 

1864. 






Brooklyn, October 2, 1861. 
Bev. Samuel T. Spear, D. D. 

Rev. and Dear Sir : — Having listened with much edification to your dis- 
course of yesterday, from the text Romans 13, Chap., 22, and appreciating the 
deep importance to our country at the present time, of the principles and views 
therein enunciated and so ably vindicated and enforced, and convinced of the 
beneficial results to the cause of Christianity and patriotism, which would flow 
from the publication of this discourse ; we respectfully solicit a copy of the 
same for that purpose : 



WALTER S. GRIFFITH, 
J. S. T. STRANAHAN, 
GEORGE B. LINCOLN, 
GEORGE W. PARSONS, 
HUGH AIRMAN, 
GEORGE A. JARVIS, 
CZAR DUNNING, 
S. B. BUTCHER, 
G. R. DOWNING, 
JOHN WILLIAMS, 
E. C. HALLIDAY, 
A. L. VAN BUREN, 
NEHEMIAH KNIGHT. 
GEORGE P. WIIXEY, , . 
' DAy=IK .B. BA"JLIS, . ! < 
' "wiLLiIAJ: HANNAHS, 



FRANKLIN CLARK, 
S. R. HUTCHINSON, 
D. J. WHITING, 
HENRY HILL, 
W. H. BOW, 
P. S. ELY, 
J. H. JACKSON, 
WILLIAM JACKSON, 
GEORGE C. WHITE, 
B. L. SANDERSON, 
JAMES McMULLEN, 
W. M. AIRMAN, 
WALTER S. GOVE, 
WILLIAM W. ROSE, 
FORBES DUNDERDALE, 
R. F. HOWES. 



Brooklyn, October 5, 1864. 
To Messrs. Griffith and others : 

Gentlemen : — I have received your request for a copy of my sermon on 
" Our Country and its Cause. " I herewith transmit a copy for the purpose 
named in your letter, hoping thereby to serve the interests of our country. 



^ ? 7 j^ 4 



S. T. SPEAR. 



OUR COUNTRY AND ITS CAUSE. 



"WHOSOEVER THEREFORE RESISTETH THE POWER, RESISTETH THE ORDI- 
NANCE OP GOD; AND THEY THAT RESIST, SHALLVREOEIVEITOJ JTHEM- 
SELVES DAMNATION."— Rom. 13 : 2. 



GOD'S LAW AGAINST KEBELLION. 

The theme of tlie sermon which I am about to preach in yoiir 
hearing, I shall entitle Our Country and its Cause. The text, 
a fitting passage for this purpose, contains the law of God on the 
subject of rebellion. Taken in itself, and in its corollaries, it 
underlies and determines all my views in respect to the present 
war. The verse immediately precedent, commands every soul to 
be " subject unto the higher powers," clearly referring to the 
civil authorities. The reason for this subjection is given in the 
fact, that " the powers that be, are ordained of God." Hence the 
religious obligation of obedience to the civil authority. Hence, 
too, he that " resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God f 
and hence again, those who resist, are justly obnoxious to the 
penalty with which civil law is armed. Such is the law of God 
in respect to the sin of rebellion. 

THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT, GOD'S ORDINANCE. 

No one, certainly no religious man, will doubt whether the 
Government of these United States is " the ordinance of God." 
If this were true of the Roman power referred to by Paul, not- 
" withstanding its heathenish and oppressive character, then it cer- 
tainly must be true of the national authority established in this 
land. While this Government as to its form and method of con- 
tinuance, was originally created by the people, yet being thus 
created, it becomes " the ordinance of God," entitled to the 
obedience of the subject, and divinely armed with penal power 
to suppress and punish all unlawful resistance to its claims. 



THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT SUPREME. 

Nor again, will any enlightened and candid man deny, that 
the Government of these United States is the supreme civil 
anthority in this land, acting directly upon all the people in all 
the States and thronghout all the Territories. It is a Govern7rient^ 
and not a treaty or leagne between independent nations. The 
Constitution, and all laws passed in pnrsnance thereof, and all 
treaties made under the same, are expressly declared to be the 
swpreine law of the land. Hence any effort of a State, or any 
portion of the people to vacate or destroy this authority, whether 
in the form of nullification, secession, or military resistance, 
is treasonable in its character, imposing upon the Supreme Gov- 
ernment the duty of arresting the effort, and bringing its authors 
to justice. This it must do, or cease to be a Government. If it 
has not the power to do this, then it is not a Government. If 
having the power, the officers of law decline to wdeld it, then 
they are traitors themselves, unworthy of their trust, and ene- 
mies of the public good. 

A STATEMENT OP FACTS. 

Bearing these principles in mind, we come to a grave ques- 
tion of fact : How happens it that this once peaceful and 
happy nation is now involved in all the perils and sorrows of a 
dreadful civil war? Who began this contest? Let a word or 
two of history be my answer to this question. 

In the autumn of 1860, the people, in accordance with the 
provisions of the Constitution, entered upon a Presidential Can- 
vass, whose result was the choice of Abraham Lincoln as their 
President for the period of four years from the 4th of March 
next ensuing. This election was strictly legal in its time, aud 
legal in its majority ; and hence its constitutional effect was to 
make Mr. Lincoln President of these LTnited States, and as such, 
the Minister of God. 

Was Mr. Lincoln so recognized by all the people ? The an- 
swer of this question forms one of the darkest and most melan- 
choly chapters of our political history. The proceedings adopted 
by large bodies of the people in the slave-holding States, will be 



memorable alike for their mireasoning infatuation, their moral 
criminality, and the terrible woes to which they have given 
birth. It was a sad hour for them, and for us, when they broke 
the bond of peace, and threw down the dire gauntlet of 
war. Acting under the inspiration of treacherous leaders, who 
had been long waiting for an opportunity and maturing their 
plans, the Southern people refused to be governed by the legally 
expressed will of the majority. Though they shared in the 
election, they declined to abide by the choice. Under the pre- 
tended right of Secession, State after State professed to with- 
draw from the Union ; and when seven States had thus with- 
drawn, they organized a Confederate Government at Montgomery, 
in Alabama, hostile in its character, repudiating the authority of 
the Constitutional President, and forcibly taking possession of 
the Forts, Mints, Property, and Military Stores of the United 
States lying within its pretended jurisdiction. In a word, these 
seceders made war upon this Government. ,Tliese acts on their 
part were acts of Avar. All this was done during the winter of 
1860 and '61, and while Mr. Buchanan yet held the office of 
President, surrounded, I am sorry to say, by as infamous a nest 
of traitors in his Cabinet and among his counsellors as ever dis- 
graced this fallen world. That winter was one of the darkest 
periods in the history of this whole tragedy. 

In the Spring of 1861, Mr. Lincoln was formally inaugurated 
into office, and became in fact President of these United States, 
being bound by the solemnities of an oath to support the Con- 
stitution, and execute the laws of the land. He took occasion 
to address the whole people, to exhort the insurgents in the 
most paternal manner not to pursue their mad purpose of dis- 
solving the Union — assuring them that he had no disposition to 
interfere with a single one of their Constitutional rights, yet 
distinctly informing them that he meant to assert the supreme 
jurisdiction of this Government, and faithfully execute the laws. 
The Inaugural of the President was worthy of the man, and 
worthy of the hour. It inspired the nation with hope, especially 
when contrasted with t^'e vacillating imbecility of Mr. Bu- 
chanan. All honest people felt that it was right. Traitors 



6 

sneered at it ; bnt patriots ■welcomed it as alike considerate and 
firm. As the first ofiicial utterance of the President, it was 
accepted as a great relief from the oppressive uncertainty which 
had hitherto Imrdened the public heart. It gave promise that 
all was'not to be lost. 

In a little more than a month after this inauguration, the in- 
surgents, by the express order of Jefferson Davis, made the at- 
tack upon Fort Sumter. Anderson and his noble band met the 
attack in the name of their country ; and yet after a terrible 
bombardment, for which the Kebels had been months preparing, 
these defenders of the flag were compelled to surrender. Down 
went the symbol of the nation's honor, and up went the flag of 
treason — a scene that stung every loyal heart to the very quick. 
Almost immediately four other States rushed into the arms of 
the rebellion, — States, too, in which the popular vote had been 
unequivocally adverse to this dreadful experiment. Against the 
will of the people they were dragged in by the machinations 
and intrigues of desperate and wicked men. Public threats 
were uttered, and traitorous preparations made for the capture 
of Washington. Some 30,000 Pebel troops were already under 
arms ; and the Confederate Congress at Montgomery had passed 
a bill for raising 100,000 more, and that too before a single sol- 
dier had been enlisted in defense of the nation. This state of 
things laid the basis for that wonderful uprising of public feel- 
ing in the loyal States, which swept everything before it. The 
people saw that the Rebels meant war, that their leaders were 
terribly in earnest, that the day of negotiation and compromise 
was past, and that nothing but the sword could save the nation. 
In the name of their country, in the name of the Constitution, 
burning too under the inspirations of a glorious history, the peo- 
ple of tlie loyal States were ready to accept the dreadful issue of 
war. Traitors at the North and Northern Sympathizers with 
treason were for the moment Inn-led headlong from the public 
regard. They dare not face the intense passion of the hour. 

The President, as it was his solemn duty to do, gave official 
and legal form to tliis feeling of the national heart. He sum- 
moned the nation to arms. He did not begin the war, as some 



affirm who ought to know better: he simply accepted a war 
already begun, during the administration of his predecessor. So 
far as the insurgents are concerned, he found the country in a 
state of war. Having called for 75,000 troops to defend the Cap- 
ital, he convened the Congress of the United States, to prepare 
for the appalling struggle thus forced upon the people. War- 
measures were speedily adopted ; and the nation, as yet unskilled 
in the art of war, and with no adequate apprehension of the 
greatness of the work, committed her life and her fortunes to the 
God of battles. She resolved to put down this rebellion by mili- 
tary force. This is the precise thing which she announced to the 
world, and to which she committed herself before all mankind. 
For a little more than three years the Government has been ac- 
tively engaged in carrying out this decree. Large sums of money 
have been expended, and a great many lives sacrificed ; and still, 
the war problem has not yet reached its final solution. The work 
is still on hand, to be prosecuted or abandoned. 

THE MORAL NATURE OF THE STRUGGLE. 

It is then perhaps a good time to submit the following ques- 
tion to our consciences, and to our God : Did the nation do 
right, did the President do right, and did Congress do right, in 
accepting the military issue in the circumstances now recited ? 
Was it right to attempt the forcible suppression of this rebellion ? 
I thought so at the time ; and I still think so. I know, that 
there are some so called Peace-men, who cry for peace on almost 
any terms, who denounce the war on the part of the Govern- 
ment as cruel and wicked, who have done their utmost to em- 
barrass the Administration in its prosecution, who have used 
even the harp of a thousand strings with which to play all the 
tunes of a croaker, some of whom though gentle as lambs 
towards the rebellion, are very belligerent towards the Govern- 
ment, These persons, in my judgment, are either traitors at 
heart, or do not correctly apprehend the true nature of this con- 
test. What then is its nature, considered in a moral point of 
view ? To this question I give a two-fold answer : 

First, on the part of the Rebels it is treason^ open, malignant 



8 

treason ac^ainst the National Government, repudiating its juris- 
diction, and designed to destroy its territorial integrity, — treason 
long planned, as many of its leaders have distinctly affirmed, — 
treason too against 'A. po])ular government, committed by the very 
class of men who for years had controlled the political councils of 
this nation, — treason for no cause that justifies a forcible revolu- 
tion, — treason without just provocation or excuse,— treason in the 
supposed interests of a slaveholding aristocracy, and against the 
rights of the masses. No man can point to any act of this Gov- 
ernment, any law of Congress, or any act of the President, or any 
principle adopted by any political party in the Northern States, 
or any act of State Legislatures, that before God can afford the 
least justification for this rebellion. The election of Abraham 
Lincoln was the immediate occasion of the outbreak ; but I ask in 
all soberness. Had not the people a right to choose whom they 
would for President % Mr. Stephens, one of the ablest of Southern 
statesmen, told the people of Georgia, that this election furnished 
no just occasion for secession. You look in vain to the Constitu- 
tion for any such right. The right does not exist in the plan of 
our national system ; and the thing itself can never be accom- 
plished without destroying its integrity. Hence I say distinctly 
and strongly, that this struggle on the part of the Rebels is simply 
the struggle of traitors against the supreme authority of the land. 
Such it was in the outset ; and such it is to-day. It is, moreov- 
er, the most wicked treason in its principles and purposes, that 
was ever perpetrated in the history of man. I must call things by 
their right names. With me a spade is a spade ; and a traitor is a 
traitor. '' Our present adversaries" are traitors ; and while occu- 
pying this attitude, and seeking to subvert the Government of my 
country, they are not my political brethren. I do not recognize 
them as such. I contem])late them only as criminals, public ene- 
mies, deadly assassins against the order and peace of society. I 
know full well that some people have honeyed words, soft phrases, 
ambiguous rhetoric in application to this issue ; some who are un- 
sparing in their denunciations of the Government, and apply the 
very vilest language to the President, do not seem to know that 
there are any armed traitors in this land ; it is perhaps conven- 



9 

ieiit for them not to know it ; yet iny moral natnre makes it 
utterly impossible for me thus to deal with this wicked thing. I 
call it treason, and its authors traitors — ^^just wliat it is, and just 
what they are. This is my diction for every man, whether North- 
ern or Southern, Mdio knowingly and willfully puts himself in alli- 
ance with this wicked rebellion. I began the diction in the out- 
set, and I expect to continue it to the end. I utterly scorn those 
political exigencies and sinister ends, by which this fact is sought 
to be ignored. I can have no sympathy with parties, platforms, 
candidates, or speakers, that fail to recognize this fact. This, let 
me tell you, is the vital fact in the question. Take it out ; and 
the whole character of the struffffle is at once changed. 

Turning then, in the second place, to the Government, you 
have an effort of established authority to suppress an unhallowed 
rebellion. Such it was in the commencement, and such it contin- 
ues to be. Some, I know, charge the Administration with adding 
other purposes to this war, especially the abolition of slavery ; but 
the charge is not true. Mr. Lincoln jn his treatment of the sla- 
very question has repeatedly said, that as President invested with 
war-powers, he should deal with slavery solely and only in its 
relation to the question of victory and the preservation of the 
Union. He may not have always been wise, or he may have 
been wise ; but his policy and the policy of the Grovernment are 
perfectly clear. Take his own words : ^ My enemies pretend I 
am carrying on this war for the sole purpose of abolition. So 
long as I am President, it shall be carried on for the sole purpose 
of restoring the Union.''' All his acts agree with this statement. 

The distinct and positive mission of this Government — the 
thing whicJi it has been, and is still trying to do — is to put down 
this rebellion. To state its position differently, is to utter a 
glaring untruth. 

Let the Rebels lay down their arms ; let them do what every 
good citizen is bound to do, and will do ; let them obey the laws 
of the land ; and the fighting will come to an end at once, and all 
the questions to be adjusted thereafter, including that of slavery, 
will be remitted to the Courts of law and the legislation of Con- 
gress. But so long as the rebels continue to fight, the Govern- 



10 

ment has no alternative bnt to meet them hy an armed force, 
doing its ntmost to compel their siilmiissioii. The case admits of 
no other course. An}' other would be fatal to our nationality. 
Any other would have resulted in the dissolution of the Union, 
and proved the tinal death of the Great Re])ublic. Men not hav- 
ing the res])onsibility of conducting the war, may find fault with 
this or that measure of the Government : yet I affirm that any 
Administration, be it Democratic or Republican, really in earn- 
est, really meaning to conquer the rebellion and preserve the 
Union, would have been compelled to adopt substantially the very 
measures that have been adopted. Anj^ Administration would 
have been compelled to resort to the war-powers of Government, 
— to raise armies, provide money, build ships, fight battles, bom- 
bard cities, blockade the Southern coast, in short, to do everything 
justified by the usuges of civilized warfare, to weaken the enemy 
and strengthen its own cause. If you fight, you must fight. You 
nmst not 7>?ay ^^S^^^? ^^it actually do the work. It is a terrible 
process; blood flows; mcH are wounded and killed; families 
weep ; the land groans ; the heart sickens at the sad necessity ; 
but, in the presence of an armed rebellion, the end both justifies 
and demands tlie means. The question is — Shall this Government 
be subverted ? Shall this glorious Union l)e dissolved ? Shall 
this nationality die i Shall armed treason be successful, and shall 
posterity for ages to come be cursed with the calamities of this 
success ? This is the (juestion ; and in comparison with it all 
others are insignificant. The Rebels have made the sword the 
only instrument of its solution. In using that sword the nation 
is simply defending itself, defending its own life, and defending 
all the interests which are committed to that life. A people that 
will not do this, do not deserve to be a people ; and they will not 
be long. Disintegration, anarchy, and ruin will very soon be 
their fate. Civil authority that cannot be maintained is but the 
name without the thing. 

In respect then to the moral question, I take tlie ground, that 
the Government is right, morally right before God, and that it 
will so appear on the page of inq^artial history, in wielding the 
military power of the country for the utter extinction of this 



n 

rebellion. Here I have no donbt, and never had any. I do not 
belong to that class of persons who ai<6 in doubt on this ques- 
tion, wlio cannot tell whether the Rebels are right, w the Gov- 
ernment is right. For all the purposes of ni}^ own action, I as- 
sume absolutely, without hesitation or doubt, that the 7'ectitude 
is witli the Government, and that the God of that rectitude is 
also there. This rebellion is not the fault of the Government. 
It is not the fault of the Northern people. Is was not gotten 
,up by the Northern people, or bv any section of them. It is 
not due to what some are pleased to style Northern fanaticism. 
It is the creature of the Soutliern mind, chiefly of a few lead- 
ing conspirators, without any just provocation in facts, and with 
no possible defense in the Constitution of the United States. 
Deeply do I regret the necessity of asserting authority by the 
force of arms ; but the necessity being upon us, then I say to 
the nation and to every man in it, to the Army and the Navy, 
to such distinguished apostles of peace as Grant, Sherman, 
Sheridan, Thomas, Hooker, Hancock, Burnside, Meade, Farra- 
gut, — Stand to your guns, load them with canister" and grape, 
and keep loading them and firing them into the rebel ranks till 
this treason bows to the demands of law. Yes, stand to your 
guns, and now settle once for all and forever ,'^that the legally 
expressed will of the majority is, and shall be the law of the 
land. This is my doctrine for the men on the field and for the 
people at home. I propose now to plant our nationality upon 
solid rock, and in the conquest of this rebellion, put an end to 
all armed resistance to the supreme authority, for at least a long 
time to come. I have no sympathy with that milk-and-water 
theology or philanthrophy, that to save indwiduals , would mur- 
der a nation. I go for saving the latter, let the cost in life and 
money be what it may. In such a crisis I want something more 
than general platitudes about the Union, in our public men and 
in candidates for the Presidency. I want to know precisely 
what they mean, and what they will do, in application to the 
great and vital issue of the/present . hour. If they stand on the 
war-platform, if they believe in suppressing this rebellion by an 
armed force, let them say so. If tliey stand on the peace-plat- 



12 

Ibrrn, if they propose to cure this rebellion by the free use of 
rose-water, then let them say that. Let them speak out plainly, 
so that plain people can understand them. The man who fails 
to do this, can never receive my vote. As a voter, I am not to 
be hoodwinked by any studied strategy in the use of words. 

THE MILITARY SITUATION. 

Having thus canvassed the moral question, I come now to 
inquire into our military situation. Where are we, and what* 
are our prospects for the future ? Some tell us, that nothing has 
been gained, that no progress has been made towards the end, 
that the war on the part of the Government is a " failure," and 
hence that any farther prosecution thereof is useless. Such peo- 
ple are of course in favor of peace on the best terms they can 
get. Is this a true view of the facts past and present ? Let us see. 

Bear in mind, that all o-reat wars must of necessity be some- 
what slow in their character. With half a million of men on 
each side, they cannot be closed up in a day, a week, or a year ; 
one battle does not settle the question ; and especially is this 
true, where, as in our own case, the theatre of war is very large, 
and the coml|p-tants are men of the same race and the same 
metal, and have the same style of military training. Overlook- 
ing this view, the public enthusiasm is very apt to demand mili- 
tary impossibilities ; and when failing to gain them, just as apt 
to sink into the state of discouragement. This, to some extent 
has been the infirmity of the American people ; and it has given 
to those who oppose the war, or who for party purposes oppose 
the Administration, the needed opportunity to pronounce the 
war a "failure,'' and create dissatisfaction with the executive 
and military authorities of the land. 

Remember too, that the war on the part of the Government, 
\vhile defensive in its moral design, has of necessity been one of 
in/vasioti in a military point of view. The Federal troops have 
been compelled to invade the territory of the rebellion, to meet 
the foe in intrenched positions, and encounter all the perils of 
lighting in an enemy's country. True, this has carried the chief 
desolations of war to Southern soil ; yet considered in a military 



IS 

light, it has given a very decided advantage to the Rebels. They 
have had the inner and the shorter lines, and o^ course tne greater 
facility for the concentration of troops. 

Add again, that, owing to the structure of Southern society, 
Jeiferson Davis has been enabled to wield ihe resources of the 
rebellion with a despotic unity and rapidity of execution, which 
have not been practicable at the J^orth. His theory has been 
that of making a tremendous struggle in comparatively a short 
time, a very good theory if successful, yet exhausting and abso- 
lutely fatal if unsuccessful. It consumes the war-power of a peo- 
ple very rapidly, and soon brings them to the extremest limit of 
possible endurance. I doubt whether any people in the whole 
history of the world were ever pressed into so much military ser- 
vice in so short a time. Certainly nothing like it has been wit- 
nessed in the loyal States. 

So too, the institution of slavery enabled the Southern people 
to furnish a larger number of white soldiers in proportion to their 
population without essentially breaking up the industries of so- 
ciety, than could be supplied from the North. The black man 
remaining at home, and tilling the soil, was an element of mili- 
tary power ; and this is one reason why the contending armies 
were for a time so nearly equal in numbers. It is a good reason 
too, why the Government should strike at slavery, and by placing 
the black man on the side of the Union, seek to weaken the 
Rebels in this direction. 

Add once more, that in the outset the Rebels had a distinct, 
definite, and desperate policy, for which they were previously 
prepared. They started in their full strength. The loyal States, 
on the other hand, were for some time feeling after a policy. It 
took time for them to find out what they had to do, and then to 
prepare for doing it. The task grew upon their hands ; and it 
was not until they were thoroughly instructed by experience, 
that they fairly settled down to the deliberate business of war. 

It is true also, that in the commencement the Rebels had the 
advantage in the line of Generals. Circumstances had made 
them more of a military people than we were. It required time 
for the Government to lay its hands upon the right men to lead 



14 

our armies— the men of skill and the men of pluck — the men 
who were absolutely true to the flag and would fight for it. 
Such leaders as Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Farragut, and others 
of like stamp, were to be founds and in a certain sense made by 
the actual trial and experience of war. We have found the men 
at last : we have laid aside the military heroes on paper ; and to- 
day we have greatly the advantage over the Rebels in the line 
of skilled, able, and earnest commanders. 

England and France too, though professing to be neutral, have 
been practically the allies of this rebellion. They have given it 
a powerful moral support ; and England certainly has aided it 
very largely in the way of war-materials. They have desired its 
success; and this has strengthened the cause of the Rebels, and 
proportionately increased the labors and perils of the defenders 
of the Union. 

I have stated these several circumstances that you may take 
them into the account, as I now proceed to the question of actual 
RESULTS. What are the facts ? 

We all know that when the present Administration came into 
power, the Federal Government was practically expelled from 
all the country south of the Delaware, Ohio, and Missouri Rivers. 
It had no Army and no Navy, at all adequate to the pur- 
poses of even a small war. A treasonable Confederacy, embrac- 
ing seven States, had already been organized. North Carolina, 
Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas were just on the brink 
of joining themselves to the Rebel forces, as they did in a 
very short time. The danger was innninent that Maryland, 
Missouri, and Kentucky would follow in the same line. Multi- 
tudes of traitors and spies swarmed in the piiblic oflices of the 
Government. Large quantities of war material had been trans- 
ported from the North to the South, and nearly all the Southern 
forts had been seized by the Rebels. The peoj^le at the North 
were divided in opinion ; they looked on with amazement ; the}' 
were stricken down with a terrible paralysis ; and in fact, they 
did not know what to do, or whitlier they were drifting. Such 
was the state of things when the Executive Administration of 
the Government passed into the hands of Abraham Lincoln. 



15 

Such is the terrible legacy of difficulties which Mr. Buchanan 
left for Mr. Lincoln to assume, and from which, if possible, to 
extricate the nation. The task surely was no easy one. A more 
mournful spectacle can scarcely be found on the page of history. 
I^othing like it had ever met any previous Administration when 
coming into power. 

How do the facts now appear ? Every man not willfully blind 
or grossly ignorant, must concede that we have made a wonder- 
ful advance towards the conquest of the rebellion, which, con- 
sidering the greatness and difficulties of the work, is without 
parallel in the annals of the world. We have conquered and 
now hold full three-fourths of the territory claimed by the 
Rebels in the outset. We have produced an immense Navy, 
and with it enforced the most extensive and successful blockade 
known in history. Beginning at Norfolk, and reaching along 
the Atlantic seaboard into the Gulf of Mexico up to New^ Or- 
leans, we have, witli the exception of Wilmington and Charles- 
ton, captured all the forts and naval stations which the Rebels 
had seized. We have gained military possession of the Missis- 
sippi River, and to-day firmly hold all the fortresses on the 
great Father of Waters, thus bi-secting the rebellion from North 
to South. We have split the rebellion up into military fragments 
and patches, and greatly reduced its power of concentration. 
We have taken from the enemy more than two thousand cannon. 

Ten of his principal cities, three of them Capitals of States, 
have fallen into our possession. General Sherman, by one of 
the most splendid campaigns of any age, has pressed his way 
into the very heart of Georgia, and captured Atlanta, inflicting 
an irreparable loss upon the Rebels, and securing an immense 
advantage to the Union, General Sheridan has recently given 
them another deadly blow ; and General Grant will in due sea- 
son, as we doubt not, do the same thing at Richmond, Every 
sign, too, abundantly shows, and the statistics of population con- 
clusively prove, that the rebellion has been brought to the very 
last stages of military life by sheer exhaustion in the way of 
fighting men. So sa}'- the eminent Generals in the field ; so say 
those who have been prisoners in the hands of the Rebels ; and 



16 

so says the merciless conscription with which Jefferson Davis 
has filled up his wasted ranks, robbing alike the cradle and the 
grave. The hopes of the Rebels from foreign intervention are at 
an end. ' Their finances are ruined, and their country almost 
ruined. They are weak, and we are strong. The cause of the 
Government and the Country was never more hopeful, and that 
of the rebellion never more desperate, so far as the military 
question is concerned. 

These facts tell their own story. Contrast the rebellion in its 
present status with the outset ; and where is it, and what is it ? 
A 'milito/ry failure. It has not succeeded ; and if the people 
remain faithful to the Government, it cannot succeed. The end 
is near, unless the American peo])le shall now perpetrate upon 
themselves the enormous folly of deserting their own cause. We 
can now sooner conquer a peace than we can possibly procure it 
by any other means. The last hope of the Rebels is in a divided 
opinion at the North, that shall in some way palsy the military 
arm of the Government. They want a change of policy ; and 
hence they feel a deep interest in the coming Presidential elec- 
tion. This interest, alike in the fact, the character, and the 
motive, conveys its own lesson to a truly loyal mind. I exceed- 
ingly doubt the wisdom of doing that which would most gratify 
our enemies and best serve their purposes. 

And now, my friends, and fellow-countrymen, I ask in all 
soberness and candor, Avhether in view of these facts you call 
this war a failure on the part of the Government? Is it a 
failure ? Is this the proper title ? Is it wise, is it true, is it just, 
is it patriotic, thus to misrepresent and belittle our successes ? Is 
it generous to charge an Administration through whose agency 
these results have been gained, with imbecility, stupidity, igno- 
rance, want of energy and skill in the method of conducting the 
war? Is this the way to speak of the achievements of those 
noble men who have fallen on the field, and moistened the soil 
of their country with their blood ? Is this a suitable homage to 
those gallant commanders whose deeds of valor will give them a 
place in history as long as history has a being ? Is this indeed 
the tribute which the American people have it in their heart 



17 

to pay to the Army and the Navy ? Shall we march back our 
soldiers, and taunt them with the bitter scorn of military failure ? 
Shall we look up into Heaven with no gratitude for that over- 
ruling providence which has so wonderfully fostered our cause 'i 
Have we no candor '( Can we not admit facts to be facts 'i Must 
we distort them for sinister purposes ? Shall we sit down with 
craven souls, and do nothing but mutter complaints, when 
the military skies bid us to be cheerful i What shall be thought 
of those whose highest hopes lie in the failure of their country's 
cause, who are sad when our armies win, and jubilant when they 
are defeated^ Such men may be very zealous partisans, but 
surely they are not patriots* When I look at the facts, I feel 
proud of my country, proud of its Government, proud of those 
who have administered that Government, proud of the Navy and 
the Army. . In the name of our glorious nationality, I accept 
the record, and bless God for it ^vith all my soul. Never since 
sin and sorrow entered this fallen world, has so much been done 
in an equal period of time, and amid equal difficulties. Failure ! 
That, let me tell you, is not the right word. It is a sin against 
the facts — a burning shame — a vile slander upon the truth. My 
hearers, you know better ; the country knows better ; the world 
knows better ; and even the Ee].)eis Icnow better. Our excellent 
President, with his plain but comprehensive common sense, with 
his tried integrity, with his e:!reful but firm judgment, with his 
true devotion to the tiag of his country, v/ith his io\-e of liberty 
and equal rights, boi-u of the peoj^le, and trusting the people, 
thoughtfully watching and following the providence of God, is 
no failure, whatever the politicians may say. His name Avill be 
honorably mentioned when they are forgotten. The country has 
had but few^ such men. Grant, with his tenacity of purpose and 
versatility of senius, content to do the militarv work committed 
to his hands, — Sherman flanking the Rebels at a dozen points, 
and drivino- them our of Atlanta, — Sheridai! " whirling" them 
through Wincliester at more than double quick, parsuing them to 
Fisher's Hill, and there giving them a second defeat,— Farragut 
fastened to the mast of his ship, and sailing by the forts in the 
Bay of Mobile, — Butler bringing order out of confusion in New 



18 

Orleans, — the Secretary of State keeping us at peace with the 
other nations of the Earth, — the Secretaries of the Treasury, the 
Navy, and the Army, workins; nic^lit and day to supply the 
means, — the members of the Senate and the House of Repre- 
sentatives giving their best thoughts to the legislation of the 
country, — the bankers and banking-houses loaning millions upon 
millions of money to the Government, — the Sanitary and Chris- 
tian Commissions that have sprung up, as if by magic, — the 
people that have pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their 
sacred honor to this cause, — the women whose handy needle- 
work has known no weariness when devoted to the comfort of 
the soldier, — the wounded and the war-worn veterans that have 
suffered, and are willing to suffer : — these persons and these 
agencies are no failure. The men and women who have given 
themselves to this service, have not failed ; and they will not. 
The Stars and the Stripes, the emblem of a nation's life and 
honor, are, and will be, safe in their keeping. The flag floats, 
and float it will, till not a traitor shall be left to question its 
supremacy ; and then, I trust, it will continue to float over a 
peaceful land, the symbol of a happy and a strong people, till 
the trump of Gabriel sounds the knell of time, and brings Earth's 
mighty drama to its flnal pause. 

THE QUESTION OF PEACE. 

Turning now to the question of peace, I take it for granted, 
that every man in this audience and all just persons throughout 
the country desire peace. In this general sense we are all Peace- 
men. What then is the surest and safest road to this end ? 
Two plans are proposed for the consideration of the American 
people, — the one consisting in a continuous and vigorous prose- 
cution of the war till the Rebels lay down their arms, — the 
other, in a suspension of hostilities on the part of the Government 
and a convention of the States. Which of these plans shall we 
adopt? I am in favor of the first, and entirely opposed to the 
second, and for the following reasons : 

In the FIRST PLACB, I SAY FEANKLY THAT I DO NOT WANT ANY 
PEACE WITH THIS REBELLION 80 LONG AS IT MAINTAINS THE ATTITUDE 



19 

OF ARMED HOSTn.ITY AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT. I pi'OpOSe, for Olie, 

fairly and squarely to meet tlie question, whether when the peo- 
ple elect their President by a (jonstitutional majority, he shall 
be peaceably accepted and obeyed by the defeated minority. I 
do not wish to dodge this issue, or make a compromise in regard 
to it. I go now for establishing the principle of national sov- 
ereignty as inherent in the people. The man who has the cre- 
dentials of the popular will legally written for his authority to 
rule, shall rule, so far as I can make this a fact ; and all 
traitorous resistance thereto, come whence it may, East, West, 
North, or South, in what form it may, whether as nullification 
or secession, shall be met, not by surrender, compromise, or ne- 
gotiation, but by a forcible and triumphant suppression. This 
is my plank, and my platform. I stand here ; and as a true man, 
I can stand nowhere else. On this plank rests the life of the na- 
tion, and also the future safety of the people. I bow to the 
Government by whomsoever administered ; and I mean for one 
that every other citizen shall do the same thing. If it be neces- 
sary to fight for this doctrine, then I will fight for it, and keep 
up the fight till I absolutely conquer treason, or am conquered 
by it. I believe in coercing rebellion, I recognize no rights in 
the States, and none in the people, adverse to the coercive power 
of the supreme authority as organized under the Constitution. 

You hence see, that I cannot accept, and I do not believe that 
the American people will accept, the theory of an armistice and 
a convention of the States as the true remedy at this moment. 
It surrenders the principle in the interests of rebellion, and 
withal creates a very dangerous precedent. It virtually con- 
fesses that the Government is beaten in this struggle, that it can- 
not maintain its authority, and that too at the very moment 
when the military situation proves exactly the reverse. " The 
resources of wise statesmanship " are very well in their place ; 
but their pr'oper place is after ^ and not hefare " The Uncon- 
ditional Submission of the Kebels." Then I shall be prepared 
for these " resources ;" but till then I am not. Till then I have 
much more faith in the military arm of the Government. Let 
that do its work first, and then have tlie talk afterwards. This, I 



20 

know, is not the doctrine of the so-called Peace-men ; yet it it^ 
iniue, and hence I take issue with them on this question. If, 
liowever, tlie majority of the peo))]e shall adopt the theory of 
tlie Peace-men, then, in accordance with my own princij^al, 1 
shall boM' to that decision, whatever may be my private opinions 
as -to its wisdom. 

I AM INFLUENCEl). IN THE SECOND PLACE, IN MY JUDGMENT ON 
THIS QUESTION BY THE PUBLISHED VIEWS OF THE EMINENT GeNERALS 
TO WHOM WE HAVE COMMITTP^D THE MILITARY CUSTODY OF OUE 

CAUSE. What do they say ? Let me give you a few examples. 

General Grant says : — " I state, to all citizens who visit me, that 
all we want now to insure an early restoration of the Union, is 
a determined unity of sentiment North. The Rebels have now 
in their ranks their last man. They have robbed the cradle 
and the grave equally to get their present force. The end is 
not far distant, if we will only be true to ourselves. I have 
no doubt but the eneni}' are exceedingly anxious to hold out 
until after the Presidential election. They have maiiy hopes 
from its effects. They hope a counter-revolution. They hope 
the election of the Peace candidate." So writes General Grant — 
a soldier and a hero who has made himself well known to the 
American people. 

General Sherman, in his recent letter to the Maj'or of Atlanta, 
remarks : — ""■ We must have Peaoe^ not only in Atlanta, but in 
all America. To secure this we must stop the war that now de- 
solates our once happy and favored country. To stop the war 
we must defeat the Rebel armies that are arrayed against the 
laws and Constitution which all must respect." "We do want, 
and will have a just obedience to the laws of the United 
States." 

General Hooker tells us, that "we must treat this rebellion 
as a wnse parent would a vicious child, — we must whip him into 
subjection — no milder discipline will answer the purpose. Some 
are crying peace, but there can be no peace as long as a Rebel 
can be found with arms in his hands." " This Union must be 
preserved ; and there is no way of preserving it but by the power 
of our armies, — by lighting the conspiracy to death." 



21 

General Biirnside, says : "' There can be no such thing as 
laying down of arms, or cessation of hostilities, until the entire 
authority of t)iis Government is acknowledged by every citizen 
of our country."' " Would it not be cowardly for us to say that 
this rebellion cannot be cruslied, and the authority of the Gov- 
ernment sustained? There is in my mind no question of it." 

General Dix declares his earnest desire to do all in his power 
" to sustain the Government in its efforts to put di,v,-n the rebel- 
lion, — an object to be effected, in my judgment, by a steady and 
unwavering prosecution of the war." He said, in a recent speech 
at Sandusky, Ohio: "It has been my conviction from the begin- 
ning, that we can have no honorable peace until the insurgent 
armies are dispersed, and the leaders of the rebellion expelled 
from the country. I believe that a cessation of hostilities would 
lead inevitably and directly to a recognition of the insurgent 
States; and when I say this, I need hardly add that I can have 
no part in any political movement of wdiich the Chicago platform 
is the basis. No, fellow-citizens, the only hope of securing an 
honorable peace — a peace which shall restore the Union and the 
Constitution — lies in a steady, persistent, and unremitting prose- 
cution of the war; and I believe the judgment of every right- 
thinking man will soon bring him to this conclusion." 

General Meade tells us, that this war " can only be terminated 
by hard fighting, and by determined efforts to overcome the 
armed enemies of the Government." 

Other Generals have spoken to the same effect. The soldiers 
are speaking. These men of valor and of deeds evince no dispo- 
sition to show the white feather. They do not spend their time 
in croaking and finding fault. They liave met the foe and they 
know his temper. They exhort the people at home to be firm, 
to replenish their wasted ranks, and supply the means, and 
express the strongest confidence that soon they will give the 
country peace as the fruit of victory. I have a profound respect 
for their opinions, and hence offer them to you as guides to duty 
in this hour of trial. It is to be lamented that we could not 
postpone the question of mere party politics, until we had first, as 
a united people, saved the Union, The soldiers can do it, and why 



22 

cannot the politicians at home imitate their good example ? For 
mere party I care nothing at this time, but for the maintenance 
of the r\ giit priuci/ples I go to all lengths. Principles viewed in 
their relation to policy are now everything with me. 

In the thikd place, the Rebel AuTHOKrriES declare in the 

MOST unequivocal MANNER, THAT THEY WILL CONSENT TO NO 
ARRANGEMENT NOT BASED ON THE RECOGNITION OP THE CONFED- 
ERATE Government, and of course the dissolution of the 
Union. — '' Say to Mr. Lincoln from me," says Jefferson Davis, 
" that I shall at any time be pleased to receive proposals for 
peace on the basis of our independence. It will be useless to 
approach me with any other." So says the Southern press. The 
Rebel chiefs, the men in power, the men who control the armies 
of the rebellion, tell you distinctly that they mean to fight this 
thing through to victory or military failure, unless you yield to 
their terms of peace. The only interest they feel in our approach- 
ing Presidential election arises from the hope, that it may in 
some way change the policy of the country, and thus the more 
certainly facilitate their end. Is it then your purpose to preserve 
this Union, not a Union, but this Union as it is under the Con- 
stitution — this Government with its full, untarnished, and undi- 
minished complement of national authority — is this your purpose ? 
Then, in the premises existing, you must Jight for it. You are 
shut right squarely up to this necessity. You cannot do it by 
negotiation. You cannot persuade these Rebel chiefs to alter 
their position by conciliating talk. No party can do it, whether 
in power or out of it. It is, on the one hand, Victaty, Union, 
and Peace, or on the other. Submission, Disunion, and Peace ; 
and between these you must make your choice. I have already 
made mine : I go for the first ; and hence I go for fighting the 
battle through to the end, seeing nothing to be gained, but 
very much that may be lost, by consenting to " a cessation of 
hostilities.''' 

In the fourth place, as matters now stand, we can in a short 
time, if we will, have peace, and also dictate its terms as the 
fruit of victory. The past success of our arms and the present 
state of the rebellion make this proposition certain. A few more 



23 

heavy blows such as our armies can give, and if we properly sup- 
port them, will give, will finish up the Confederate Government 
of Jeflferson Davis and his associate conspirators, and sweep it 
from the earth as an organized military power ; and then we shall 
be in a position to speak directly to the people of the several 
States, and propose to them, and not to Jefferson Davis, suitable 
measures for an honorable and Constitutional re-union. We have 
nothing to do with this arch-traitor but to conquer him, and 
nothing to do with his ConsTress but to annihilate it. This I am 
fully persuaded, is the shortest and surest road to any peace to 
which a true Union man can ever give his consent. I 
doubt whether, after the trial of three years, especially when 
we are so near the final result, and when we can grasp that 
result if we will, it is wise to change our policy or its agency 
for any new experiments. iVll the reasons which dictated this 
policy in the outset, apply with augmented force at the pre- 
sent time. In my judgment the best peace-commission is a 
strong army well commanded. The best peace-commissioners 
are the very men we now have in the field. They will conquer a 
peace soon if we do not call them ofi" from thp task ; and then Jef- 
ferson Davis will be no longer Jefi^erson Davis the President of 
the Confederate States of America, but Jefferson Davis the in- 
dicted criminal, and if convicted, a candidate for the gallows. 

In the fifth place, the proposition fob a cessation of hos- 
tilities WITH A VIEW TO " AN, ULTIMATE CONVENTION" OF THE 

States, is, I think, surrounded with the most fearful uncer- 
tainties AND perils. It is a dark and dangerous road for the 
nation to travel in. Let us see. 

To whom is this proposition to be submitted ? Of course to 
the Confederate Authorities at Richmond, — the men who are 
now conducting hostilities on the Rebel side, and who expressly 
tell us that they will never consent to a convention for any such 
purpose as the one we have in view. 

From lohom is this proposition to come in the first instance ? 
Of course from the Government of these United States. This 
is the theory now put before the American people for their con- 
sideration. 



24 

In what position is the Government then placed, and the cause 
it represents? After liaving attempted to crush the re])ellion, 
and spent miUions of money, and sacrificed thousands of lives, 
and almost gained the point, the Government, according to this 
theory, backs down, and the people back down, and both vir- 
tually confess their inability to complete the work, and hence sue* 
for terms of peace with armed traitors. The treason is trium- 
phant, and the Governmental authority vanquished and defeated. 
Gracious Heaven ! Shades of the honored and heroic* dead I 
Ellsworth, Lyon, Kearny, Wadsworth, Sedgwick, McPherson I 
brave and noble men, mouldering in the patriot's grave — fortunate 
in having fallen too soon to witness the disgrace of your arms I 
Has it come to this I Have you given your lives for a nation of 
braggarts, and a nation of cowards au'l poltroons ? Have you 
fought for a principle and a cause, and fought them almost into 
victory, only to have both betrayed and dishonored at last if In 
the name of the Army and the ISTavy, and by all the sacred 
memories that cluster around their deeds immortal, I ask more 
than twenty millions of people whether they will consent to 
such an infamy ? Better, yes, infinitely better, not to have be- 
gan the contest at all than to pause now before you finish it. 
" "We beseech you," say the officers and soldiers at Nashville in 
their recent address to the American people, "■ beware of any 
man, or any body of men, who, when success is so near, urges a 
suspension of hostilities. Such a proposition is either the height 
of folly or tlie height of treason, — treason all the more hatefnl, 
because the more cowardly than the treason of those we fight." 
"We have victory in our hands. If we fail to clutch it and 
retain it now, we are criminal, false to our past history, false to 
our nation, false to the age, false to humanity, false to God." 
These ringing words speak the soldier's heart. 

Mark well the fact, that this proposed " cessation of hostili- 
ties " is to be either temporartj or Jinal. If the former, then 
you nnist resume fighting in tlie event of failure to agree upon 
terms of peace ; and if so, I do not see what you gain provided 
the belligerent parties fail to agree, which, let me tell you, is the 
overwhelming probability in the case. You will have to sup- 



25 

port the Arm J and the Navy" during this armistice ; you will give 
the rebellion time to recover itself; you will demoralize and dis- 
grace your own soldiery ; and then you will return to hostilities 
under the absolute necessity of fighting it out at last, or consent- 
ing to a dissolution of the Union. If, however, the armistice be 
Jkial, then, in the event of failure to agree upon the terms of 
peace under the same government, the Union is dissolved, and 
the Southern Confederacy established as an independant nation. 
It is hence obvious, that, in either aspect of the case, this doc- 
trine of an armistice promises nothing for the national cause, 
and threatens much against it, I am afraid of it. I think it 
much safer to conquer a peace first, and apply '• the resources of 
wise statesmanship " afterwards. 

Suppose, however, that, by resorting to an armistice, you 
could bring the Rebels back into the Union ; let this be granted 
for the sake of the argument ; and what then are likely to be 
their demands as the conditions of peace, if you go before them 
in this attitude ? Have you tlionght of this question ? They 
will virtually dictate the terms of peace. Practically they will 
be the conquerors. Tliey will have fought you till you cannot 
or dare not fight them any longer. Elated with their own 
success, as well they might be, they will demand new guaranties 
for slavery. They w^ill demand such modifications of our politi- 
cal system as will forever protect them against the growth of 
the true democratic principle. They will demand the recog- 
nition of their favorite doctrine of State Rights, always involv- 
ing the right of Secession. They will demand a new style of 
Union. They will demand too, that the nation shall assume the 
enormous war debt which they have contracted, thus paying the 
expenses of the rebellion. The men with whom you will con- 
duct this negotiation, if at all, are very desperate men ; they 
constitute the bone and sinew of the slaveholding oligarchy ; 
their politic^al necessities as public men commit them to the suc- 
cess of the rebellion, or to something that in their judgment shall 
be nearly its equivalent ; in the bargain to be made they must 
come off with flying colors ; and now the very moment that you 
release these men from the deadly pressure of the military 



26 

power, yoii can come to no aii^reemeiit with them without such 
concessions and guaranties, as, T am persuaded, tlie l*^orthern 
people never will make, certainly not unless they become traitors 
to the sanctity of law and the very lirst principles of civil liberty. 
You may as well meet this question first as last. There is a 
fundamental antagonism between Northern civilization and the 
theories and purposes of these Rebel leaders ; and you can do 
nothing with them in the line of negotiation that you will con- 
sent to do, until you have Urst conquered them ; and then you 
may propose honorable terms of peace and reunion to the 
masses of the people in the respective States with some hopes of 
success. If you allow yourselves to be cheated on this point, 
you will be sadly cheated, and lay the basis for terrible difficul- 
ties in the future. There is no jn'ocess or compromise under 
heaven, by which the moral, political, and religious drift of 
Northern civilization can be arrested in this land. It is the 
drift of the age, the drift of freedom, the drift of enlightened 
thought, the drift of God's provideiice : and those who oppose 
it, will be swept away ]>efore it. If for the sake of a false and 
treacherous peace you attempt to stop this current by a bargain, 
such as will be agreeal)le to slaveholders and traitors, the cur- 
rent itself will soon split your bargain into a thousand fragments. 
You bad better not hand this question over to posterity ; you 
had better take care of it yourselves, and now settle it upon the 
right basis. 

And yet, once more, Have you well considered the foreign 
perils incident to this doctrine of an armistice? The moment 
you pause in this contest and virtually give up the question of 
victory, the overwhelming probability is that England and 
France will at once step in, and recognize the nationality and 
independence of the Confederate Government. They would be 
glad to do so ; and if you give them the needed occasion, they 
will do it. You will go more than half way towards the result 
yourselves ; and what you leave unfinished England and France 
will complete. They have shown a clear and unequivocal desire 
to have this Union dissolved, and this great nationality broken 
in its ]x»wer ; and such an opportunity they would be very likely 



^7 

to improve. Moreover, during the armistice all the neutral 
nations of the earth would, according to the rules of international 
law, be at perfect liberty to supply the Rebels with the means 
of further fighting, provided hostilities should be resumed. As it 
respects these nations the blockade would come to an end ; the 
Southern ports would be open to trade ; and the Southern people 
aided by foreign nations would be in a better position to resume 
the contest if necessary. There would be no little danger, that 
we should get into a foreign war on this question of trade with 
the Soutliern ports. 

Now taking all these points together, 1 ask the question : — It 
not this doctrine of an armistice and an ultimate convention a 
very uncertain and dangerous expedient ? So it seems to me. 
I would not even dream of it until driven thereto by the sternest 
military necessity, such as does not now exist at all. It is in my 
judgment as foolish as it is cowardly, and contemptible. It can 
have no other effect but to complicate our difficulties, endanger 
our cause, and prolong the struggle. I speak thus freely of it 
because the interests of my country are at stake. The fact that 
this doctrine has been made a political plank, does not exempt it 
from the searching scrutiny of truth. At such a time I can be 
chained to no political party. I will do my own thinking and 
my own voting. I go for the salvation of the country, whatever 
may be the fate of parties. 

I NOW OBSERVE FINALLY, THAT THIS DOCTEINE, FOR THE PURPOSE 
ALLEGED, IS BOTH ABSURD AND IMPRACTICABLE UNDER THE CONSTI- 
TUTION. The object is to get the Rebels back into the Union, 
peaceably, without conquering them. For this purpose you are 
asked to propose an armistice to be followed by a Convention of 
the States. Those who proclaim this theory, mean of course a 
convention called in agreement with the provisions of the Con"- 
stitution, since no other would have any legal character. Any 
other convention would be revolutionary. They must also mean 
a convention to which the Rebel States would be parties, and 
in which represented. jS^o other would be binding upon them, 
or at all answer the purpose. The proposition then is to seek an 
armistice with Jefferson Davis and his army, that in the mean- 



38 

time tlie Rebel and the loyal States may come together in a 
national convention, and settle onr difficulties. How will this 
thing work ? Let ns see. 

As my first metliod of shedding light npon the point, I will 
read to yon that clanse of the Constitntion which prescribes the 
method of calling a convention of the States. "" Congress * * 

* on a])plication of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several 
States, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which 

* * * shall be valid to all intents and purposes as parts of this 
Constitution when ratified bv the legislatures of three-fourths of 
the several States, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as 
the one or the ctther mode may be proposed by Congress." This 
is the law for a convention of the States. You must first have 
the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of these States, 
asking for it ; you must next have the action of Congress calling 
the convention ; and finally the legislatures of three-fourths of 
the several States or conventions in three-fourths thereof, must 
ratify amendments before they can be a part of the fundamental 
law of the land. How then will you get the Eebel States into 
such a convention, and what will you do with them when they 
are there ? They must be parties to the application for a conven- 
tion, and then they must be parties in it. What a strange mud- 
dle you will have ! Think of it. Jefferson Davis and his army 
held still by an armistice ! Legislatures of Rebel States applying 
for a convention under the Constitution which they utterly ignore 
and repudiate ! Delegates from these liebel States members of 
that convention ! Two conflicting allegiances there represented 
— one to the Confederate Government of which Jefferson Davis 
claims to be the Executive head, and the other to this Govern- 
ment ! Alas ! alas ! and is this what wise men submit as a plat- 
form for a candidate to stand upon, and the people to accept. If 
the Rebel States appear in this proposed convention, the very 
act concedes that they are already in the Union ; and if so, why 
have a convention to bring them in ? If they do not thus appear, 
of what use is a convention as the means of negotiating a peace ? 

There is still another difficulty in the case. The Constitution 
requires, that " the members of the several State Legislatures 



29 

shall be bound by oath or affirmation ^to support this Constitu- 
tion." You hence see, that before the members of the Legis- 
latures in these Rebel States can take any action looking towards 
a national convention, or any other action which this Government 
can recognize as valid, they must first be qualified by a solemn oath 
of allegiance. Will they take this oath 'i If so, then all the ends 
of a convention are already gained. Will they decline the oath ? 
If so, then you can have no convention to which tlicy can be parties. 

Thus, as you see, this plan breaks down on all sides. It is 
practicable only under circumstances which render it absohitely 
needless. It is a mere illusion. The gentlemen who presented 
it as the chief plank in a political platform, either sadly deceived 
themselves, or calculated far too largely upon popular ignorance 

But making no account of these serious, I think, fatal objections, 
let me in all soberness ask, — What is this convention to do, pro 
vided you have secured it ? If it does anything towards making- 
peace, it must of course propose such amendments to the Con- 
stitution as will be acceptable to those who are in arms against 
the Government. To do this it must very essentially remodel 
the fundamental law of the land, perhaps dividing up the nation 
into a confederacy of four or five Republics. The Constitution 
as it is, and the Union as it was, will be very likely to disappear 
under the operations of tliis theory. Yery well ; the convention, 
we will suppose, has agreed upon these amendments ; and now 
comes the question of their adoption by the people. Is there 
any prospect that the people of three-fourths of the States will 
adopt any amendments that Jefferson Davis and his co-conspira- 
tors will accept as a satisfactory basis of peace ? Not the least in 
the world. There is but a bare possibility of any such agree- 
ment in the convention ; and then when the matter comes before 
the people, there is not the slightest chance of securing a consti- 
tutional majority in its favor. Yery well ; where are you now ? 
Your convention has failed ; and you come back to the position 
of fighting out this question to ultimate victory, or giving up the 
Union as dead and gone with a hostile Government upon 
your very borders. You come back to your present position 
at last, with all the dangers incident to this circuitous route. 



30 

] caiiiiot therefore accept this doctrine of an arinistice and a 
convention of the States as a remedy for onr national diiiiculties. 
I have serious objections to the very idea of any convention of 
tlie States at this time to tinker with tlie organic law of the 
land, not to act upon speciiic amendments, but to take up the 
whole structure of our political system for revision ; and I must 
add that the idea seems to me very strange as the proposition of 
those who profess great zeal for the Constitution as it is and the 
Union as it was. Pray, what do these men want of a conven- 
tion? It will be of no use simply to expoimd this instrument, — 
this is the business of the Courts. It will be of no use simply 
to read it — any man can do this. If it has any practical char- 
acter, it must take up the Constitution for revision and altera- 
tion ; and this surely will not give us the Constitution as it is, or 
the Union as it was, but something else, perhaps a mere league 
or confederation of States, as the basis of peace. Oh, no, my 
friends: — this will not do. I see no relief in this idea; and 
since I will never concede the theory of Secession, or consent to 
a dissolution of the Union, I am in favor of war to compel sub- 
mission to the national authority, and not an armistice or a con- 
vention to negotiate with armed traitors. This I deem the only 
course that is safe for the nation. 

THE SEQUEL OF VICTORY. 

What shall be the sequel of this victory if we gain it? I 
shall not go very largely into this question ; yet it is more or less 
before the public mind, and hence a word or two in regard to it 
may not be out of place. 

The immediate sequel will of course be the absolute annihila- 
of the Confederate Government, and all that pertains to- it. It 
is an usurped authoi'ity now ; and if we conquer and break up 
its armies, then this common cause of the country will be out of 
the way. Let it go to the shades of eternal infamy. HaWng 
been the great criminal and cause of this generation, let it be 
remembered as a warning to posterity. History will write its 
bloody record, and future ages gaze with astonishment. 

In respect to the Rebel States themselves, immediate efibrts 
should, and as I doubt not, will be made to re-establish thenj 



31 

upon the basis of allegiance to this Government. Considered as 
political communities, thej still exist. They still exist. True, 
their public ofiicers have been traitors ; yet the jpeojple remain, 
and the State-boundaries remain. Kow, to the people of these 
States I vfould propose, or from them accept, just and honorable 
measures for their early return to the Union under loyal Gov- 
ernors, loyal Legislatures, and by loyal Representatives in both 
Houses of Congress, in the meantime giving them distinctly to 
understand that they must respect the national authority, either 
willingly or unwillingly. All resistance I would put down by 
force of arms, and administer a military government in the name 
of the nation, until the people supersede its necessity by the cre- 
ation of loyal State Governments. I would deal wisely, care- 
fully, generously, with these State organizations, in the true 
spirit of conciliation: [ would not displace State Legislation by 
Federal, orin any way invade the real rights of the States : I 
would do nothing to add to the mortification of defeat ; yet I 
would insist upon the full recognition of the national authority, 
not as a gratuity to be bargained for, but as a right to be main- 
tained. It should be this, or military subjection. I hence ad- 
mire the recent conduct of General Sherman. He has planted 
himself in the very heart of Georgia ; he has turned Atlanta into 
a great military post for war-purposes ; and thus virtually said 
to the people of Georgia, that the United States Government is 
here, and means to stay here, and means to exert all the force 
necessary to have its flag respected here. This, while wise as a 
military measure, has also the ring of the true doctrine. 

Looking at the people considered as individuals, I would meet 
the masses with a general anmesty for oifenses past, provided 
they would desist from the rebellion, and accept the Constitution 
as the supreme law of the land. This must be done, unless you 
inflict the penalty for treason upon nine-tenths of the people in 
the Rebel States. If the system of gxierilla war-fare be kept up 
by wandering hordes of banditti, I would dispose of that in a 
way to make its career very short. And in respect to the 
prominent leaders of this rebellion, I take the ground that no 
amnesty should ever be extended to them, A goodly number of 



32 

them, sufficient to vindicate the nation's justice, if arrested, 
should be indicted, tried, convicted, and hung for treason. The 
remainder sliould be either driven from the country into exile, 
or if permitted to remain, forever disqualified from holding any 
office of profit or trust under the Government of the United 
States. It is not my province to sketch the legislation suitable 
to meet these ends ; but something like these ends I would gain. 
Justice cries for it; the law of God cries for it ; and the future 
safety of the nation cries for it. These men have fought you 
desperately, and they will continue to fight you till they can 
fight you no longer ; they have ruined their own section of the 
country, and it is not their fault that they have not ruined the 
whole nation ; and now when you have been compelled to con- 
quer them to save the life of the nation, and have actually done 
the work, then I plead for such an exercise of justice as will 
make their fate an instructive example to all ages. Would it 
not be pusillanimous, yea, absolutely ridiculous, to fight treason 
to the very death, to marcli large armies against it, to spend 
millions of money, and bathe the land in blood ; and then when 
at this costly sacrifice you have blasted its j^ower, to turn round 
and welcome the traitor to your bosom as if he had committed 
no crime? This nation, I trust, will never be guilty of such an 
enormous fatuity. It would be a moral anachronism, for which 
Heaven would condemn us, and all the nations of the earth de- 
spise us. 

In respect to the slavery-question, — that sad knot of all knots 
in our political history — I take the following grounds : first, that 
all those slaves who have actually acquired their freedom during 
the war, especially those who have served in the Army and 
N^avy, should retain that freedom, and by the Government be 
defended in its jjossession : secondly, that as a question of law, 
the Emancipation Proclamation of the President covering the 
Rebel States, and by him adopted as a military measure for the 
conquest of this rebellion, should work out the freedom of all 
tlie slaves not having actually acquired it in those States, pro- 
vided the Judiciarv of the United States shall not reverse this as 
the tnie legal effect of that Proclamation : thirdly, that at an. 



33 

early period the whole people should, by an aniendment to the 
Constitution, forever prohibit the existence of slavery and Slave- 
laws in any part of this land. These three points state the doc- 
trine which I hold on this subject. I cannot stop to discuss 
them ; yet I believe the removal of slavery necessary to any- 
thing like a permanent peace. Slavery in having souglit to rend 
this nation into fragments, has in my judgment committed the 
unpardonable sin, for which it ought to die. 

Trusting in God, following his providence, walking in the light 
of that providence, and firmly doing our duty, we shall then gain 
these results as the fruits of victory. They hang in the first 
place upon the fact of victory, and in the second place upon a 
good tise of that victory. Nationality fixed, and universal free- 
dom accomplished, are the two great blessings to grow out of this 
war, dearly bought I am aware, yet worth the cost if no cheaper 
price could purchase them. 

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 

And now, my friends, 1 behold a sublime spectacle. The 
American people are about to arise in their majesty, and vote 
upon some of the questions which I have been discussing in your 
hearing. By a provision of the Constitution the executive head- 
ships of this Grovernment, once in every four years, comes back 
to the people for renewal and instruction according to the de- 
mands of public sentiment. That important y:>eriod finds us 
now in the midst of a deadly civil war. In many respects it 
seems unfortunate that the country should be launched into a 
political campaign at such a moment ; yet the task is upon us, 
and we must meet it like men. 

Two great political organizations are already in the field with 
their respective platforms and candidates ; the one approving 
and proposing to continue the Administration now in power, 
and the other severely censuring that Administration, and asking 
the people to change it ; the one adopting the war-policy for the 
suppression of the rebellion and the restoration of the Union, 
and the other repudiating this policy and substituting therefor 
a cessation of hostilities and a Convention of the States ; the one 
declaring that the war is, has been, and if vigorously pursued, 



34 

will be a glorious success, and the other pronoun cing it a failure 
for tlic end had in view; the one basing the war-policy upon 
the riglitful authority of this Government to suppress a rebellion 
and enforce obedience to its laws, and the other strangely passing 
this moral and political question in total silence ; the one re- 
ferring to the institution of slavery as the cause and largely the 
strength of the rebellion and proposing that at an early period 
the Constitution should be so alnended as to remove this gigan- 
tic evil from the land, while the other makes no reference what- 
ever to this subject. These are the leading contrasts between 
the two platforms, on which the American people are invited to 
express their judgment at the coming election. They are en- 
tirely clear ; any one who understands the English language, can 
see them ; and hence they need no expositor. 

I need not say to you, that, between these platforms with their 
respective candidates, you are to make your choice. One or the 
other will receive the approval of the popular will, and hence 
regulate the future policy of tliis Government. 80 it ought to 
be, since both are fairly and squarely before the American peo- 
ple. There should be no factious minority resisting the will of 
the majority. 

Let me add, that for all the purposes of my own judgment as 
a citizen and a voter, I regard each political organization with 
its platform and candidates as substantially one thing. You 
must vote either for or against the whole together. You cannot 
separate them if you would. You cannot vote for the candi- 
date, and reject the jilatform, or for the platform and reject the 
candidate. The truth is, the candidate stands upoii the plat- 
form, if he stands upon anything. If he accepts the nomination, 
he must accept the platform of jprinci/ples upon which it is pre- 
sented to him, and if elected, he must carry out those principles, 
or be a traitor to the party nominating him. He is the platform 
in a personal embodiment, and the platform is the candidate in 
the theory iq)on which he comes into power. There is no 
escape from this conclusion; and there should be no effort to 
mystify it. To practice a dodge-game here is evasion and trick- 
ery. True, the candidate may decline the nomination, — this is his 



35 

privilege, and it may be his duty; but in so doing he either 
ceases to be the nominee, or virtually becomes what is called a 

Now, as between these two platforms with their respective can- 
didates, I have expressed no opinion, except as such an opinion 
may be involved in the discussion of prin&lples. I have an opinion, 
and I expect to act upon it. You have an opinion, and as I 
doubt not, you will express it by a ballot. You will do what I 
shall do^ — ^what in part I have already done: you will compare 
the candidates in reference to their capaeities as men, their ex- 
perience and antecedents, their qualifications to guide the Ship 
of State in this stormy hour, and also the platforms on which 
they respectively stand, and to w^hicli they are honorably com- 
mitted before the country ; I say you will do this ; I advise you 
to do it, for in no other way can you make up a sound judgment ; 
and then having done this, you will, as I trust, vote according to 
your sense of duty. Is it at all probable, as the question is now 
submitted to them, that the American people can change their 
policy, or change its agency, for the better ? If this be so, and a 
majority of the people so affirm through the ballot-box, then 
General McClellan will, if he lives, be the next President ; and 
in that event I shall yield to him all due obedience, reverence, 
and support as the supreme executive magistrate of this great 
nation. But if this be not so, and the people so adjudge in the 
legal way, then the present incumbent in the Presidential office 
will be continued for another term ; and in that event I shall 
render to him the obedience and support to which he is entitled 
by the Constitution and Laws of the land. Between these two 
individuals as candidates^ I have my choice, and I have my 
weighty reasons for that choice; but when they cease to be can- 
didates, and one of them becomes President, then the relation of 
the latter to the whole country is most essentially changed. Then 
he becomes the minister of God. Then the religious obligation 
of obedience exists. Then resistance to his authority is treason. 
Then a defeated minority must bow to the sovereign will of the 
majority. I stand firmly by this principle. I see no other that 
does not involve the ruin of popular government. 



36 

Let me say farther, that in my judgment the nation is now 
passing through a very solemn and important crisis of its his- 
tory. If I had not thouglit so, I shouh] not have devoted so 
much time, in this place, to the consideration of this subject. 
The questions upon which the people are soon to vote, are the 
gravest upon which any people ever did vote. The circum- 
stances are peculiar, and the interests immense. That the public 
mind should be deeply moved, is not wonderful. The banner of 
the nation has been steadily waving in military trium])h ; fathers, 
and sons, and husbands, by thousands and tens of thousands, have 
gone to the iield of deadly conflict ; braver or l)etter soldiers 
never trod any soil ; some of the choicest blood of the land has 
been poured uj^on the national altar ; history contains no ex- 
ample of such a rebellion, and no example of such devotion on 
the part of the loyal people to the flag of their country ; the 
recent successes of our arms have made the nation jubilant with 
hope ; the soldiers are still in the field, and hundreds and thou- 
sands are rapidly rushing thither, ready to maintain our cause, 
and fight for victory to the very death, ready to charge home 
upon the common foe ; the rebellion is rapidly waning, it is 
drawing its last gasps, and under the peace-commission of strong 
hands and heroic hearts it will soon be no more ; and now, O 
ye sons of men, ye citizens of this great Republic, ye sovereigns 
of a nation's destiny, will you, in these circumstances, command 
your Army and your Kavy to pause before this armed treason is 
absolutely annihilated ? Will you l)y your decision at the ballot- 
box flank all the men in the field ? This is really the great gist ot 
the question, as matters have been presented to the public mind. 
The issue has been clearly and plainly put before the American 
people. There is no disguise about it. The platforms speak for 
themselves. Not to vote at such a time, is a crime. Not to 
vote correctly, is a very great mistake. The question is not what 
jMrty, or what particular individual shall come into power, but 
\Y\\2ii2)ri7ici2)les shall come into jDower ; and on this question I feel 
as deep an interest as I ever felt on any subject in all my life. 

Let me say once more, that while I have spoken plainly, per- 
haps ill a way that may seem indiscreet to some ears, I ask no 



37 

living mortal to share with me the responsibility of this utterance, 
or accept my views contrary to his own judgment. I have well 
considered my words. I know their meaning. I have not know- 
ingly misstated any facts. I stand by the principles laid down 
in this sermon, believing them to be true. Here I stand in this 
place and in every other. I am aware of the intensity of men's 
feelings at such a time ; and I certainly do not wish to offend 
those feelings. I plead for no party as such ; I do not wish to 
appear before you as a partisan — such I am not ; I do not wish 
in this place to transcend the legitimate functions of the Christian 
pulpit — in my judgment I have not done so ; I do not wish to in- 
voke at your hands any special indulgence — you may criticise 
this sermon as much as you please, and I shall take no offence ; 
but in such an hour as this, when the dearest interests of this 
great nation are at stake, when the long future is providentially 
hanging upon the mighty present, I should deserve the scorn of 
all honest men, and merit and meet my own, if as a preacher 
having a text that covers this whole subject, and as a citizen hav- 
ing the rights, interests and hopes which are common to my fel- 
low-countrymen, I closed my mouth, and studied the artful am- 
biguities ?>f a sinister and truckling policy. ISTo, my hearers ; 
God is my witness, and you are my witnesses, that I have not 
done this. What I have said, I have said ; and I now close by 
thanking you for your patience in hearing me, and asking the 
blessing of the Supreme Majesty of heaven and earth upon the 
utterance. May the God of our fathers carry the nation safely 
through this perilous hour, rebuking treason, establishing law, or- 
daining justice, and giving us for our next President a man who 
will, in his hands be a fitting agent for the execution of these 
ends ! 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 764 591 9 4W 



, iBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 764 5919 • 




HoUinger 

pH8.5 

Mill Run F3-1 955 



